6th blog

This is the 6^th episode (albeit a bit late unfortunately) blog for the Simpsons and according to the schedule seems to the last. This week was new and it was the 17^th episode of the 22^nd season. The episode is entitled “Love Is a Many Strangled Thing.”

Homer inadvertently humiliates Bart in front of a stadium crowd. Marge not really outraged but more annoyed it seems encourages Homer to enroll in a fathering enrichment class. It is taught by therapist Dr. Zander. (voiced by Paul Rudd) He becomes shocked to learn that Homer often strangles Bart for mischievous behavior, Dr. Zander conducts a series of treatments with the help of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to teach Homer what it feels like to be young and small. When Bart learns that the therapy sessions have transformed Homer into a pushover, he takes advantage of Homer and becomes a school bully. Hoping therapy could also cure Bart of his bullying habits, Marge enlists Dr. Zander's help to patch their relationship.

I’m sorry. Is this a high quality episode nowadays? I understand that it is a cartoon clearly and so it lies completely in the world of fiction but there has to be some string of reality tied to all of it. Kareem was available to help a no name psychologist in treating a clearly volatile patient? I am sure when I was younger and used to watch this sow religiously I would have been laughing the entire time but it is just too much at this point. I am done.

Unfortunately, once again there is nothing that can be taken from this episode in terms of community. Just the way it was.

……If you really want something from this episode, don’t be violent towards others for every little thing.

5th blog

This is the 5^th episode (albeit a bit late unfortunately) blog for the Simpsons. This week was a repeat from earlier on this season. The episode in question is the 6^th episode for season 22 entitled “The Full Monty” and it originally aired Nov. 21^st, 2010.

The episode begins with a meeting of news station representatives that devise a plan to cause mass panic by fabricating a faux disease that is caused by household cats. They say that among other things, that there is a vaccine available but of course only in limited supply. (You can already tell this episode is going to be a winner folks. looks away and pulls at collar) At the hospital, Mr. Burns steals a significant portion of the “vaccine” for himself, running over the rest of the vaccine with his car in the process. Mr. Burns learns that he essentially has 6 weeks to live due to multiple illnesses. Naturally he becomes distraught by the town’s less-than-sensitive reaction to his announcement. (Gee, you think evil character for the last 20 years?) He then attempts suicide by leaping from a cliff, yet ends up surviving, albeit with some amnesia and delusional behavior. (May I interject real quick that this is a character who has over numerous occasions over the past been shown to be too weak already to even properly lift his toothbrush to his teeth?) Bart finds Mr. Burns weak and vulnerable in the wilderness and secretly takes him into the Simpsons' home. (See what the writers did there? They finally brought in the actual main characters of the show to tie it together. Good on them) When Homer and Marge learn about their new houseguest, they, along with the rest of Springfield, decide to get some payback for all the misery he has caused them over the years. (shocking.) When Lisa takes Burns back to his mansion, his memories return changing him back to his cruel, heartless self, and decides to put a dome over the town to get revenge on everyone who had treated him badly. (what this would actually do, I do not know. [So Monty’s greatest way to control the town of Springfield is to block out the sun, and to place a dome overhead. This guy has a weird affinity for blocking things.]) In the end, Mr. Burns flies away in his helicopter piloted by Smithers, who at first believed Mr. Burns had died and spent a brief time working for former Vice President Dick Cheney. The pair are immediately greeted by Nelson Muntz.  He threatens to crash the helicopter unless Mr. Burns agrees to attend a school play posing as Nelson's father. I am actually totally lost on the last part. What that has to do with anything else in the episode is far beyond me.

This was not a winner of an episode as you can tell. There is nothing even really to extrapolate from it in terms of dealing with national issues. The writers simply decided to give Monty and episode and it fell flat.

4th Simpsons Episode.

So this is the 4^th episode blog (from the episode "A Midsummer's Nice Dream) for my QU class and here we go….

So the plot is broken up into two parts. The first deals with Cheech and Chong and the second being the lesser-known character that is the Crazy Cat lady.

It seems that the town of Springfield is awaiting a visit from the aged comedy duo of Cheech and Chong. The Simpsons decide to go see them at the local theatre. While performing, Chong, becoming upset by the repetitiveness of the act, begins to improvise, ultimately leaving the stage. After moments of prompting, Homer takes to the stage and the place of Chong. He begins to recite the lines of the act from his own memory (huh, 22 years the show has been on and there has never been a mention of him being a fan?) Impressing Cheech, he asks Homer to join him on tour in place of Chong (Yeah, makes sense. Do the same act with a different person. We saw how well it worked with The Three Stooges. Also, doesn’t he have a job that he never seems to go to anymore?) The duo title their act Cheech and Chunk. Homer is disillusioned when he discovers that Cheech and Chong's lives are different from the personas depicted. Later, Chong begins auditioning a replacement for Cheech. He ultimately chooses Skinner, titling their act Teech and Chon. They ultimately fail as a duo. Homer convinces Chong to rejoin Cheech on stage to perform and that is the end of this part.

All the while of this going on, Marge discovers that the Crazy Cat Lady is a hoarder. For the people at home, a hoarder is anyone that feels the need to find, collect, keep, pack ANY and EVERYTHING because they do not know how to throw things away. If you want a good belly laugh, watch the shows on TLC about Hoarding. Instantly feel better about yourself. In an effort to help, Marge has the clutter removed from her home. After the loading the waste disposal truck, Marge begins removing items, causing her own home to become cluttered. Eventually, Homer brings back the Crazy Cat Lady to change Marge's new ways, but ends up becoming a hoarder again after seeing all her old items. Homer and Marge eventually just leave her in their house and go off to reunite Cheech and Chong, as the Crazy Cat Lady starts to shout and bang her chest like Tarzan drawing all of her cats into the house.

Nothing much going on in this episode. I am not even sure what I could draw from it. The first part would be I suppose don’t mess with a good thing? I don’t know. From the second part of the show, If there is something to be had from it, don’t’ meddle in others affairs?

Third Episode Blog

Back yet again for another rousing take on the Simpsons by me. I will start off by saying in the beginning of this episode had a lot of actually funny one liners that I enjoyed for once. I was pleasantly surprised. 


The main plots centers around Lisa comes upon a flower called the Springfield Silvertongue in Springfield's desert at a field trip. (Where the hell is Springfield that it clearly has mountains, close proximity to the ocean, heavy snowfall n the winter and a desert?) After almost being attacked by a pair of scorpions, Lisa notices the calming effect the flower has on them and decides to take a batch home.  After she creates a solution extract from the flowers, you can guess by now, Homer gives some to his father after he is kicked out of the old folks home and causes trouble around the house. As with the spiders, the flower has a similar effect and cures Grandpa of his usual crankiness. It is then that a drug industry employee from Hottenhoffer Pharmaceuticals recreates the drug and distributes it to the elderly generation to calm them. 


^{There is a simple notion that most people see older people as simply cranky and they do not wish to deal with them. This rings true with lots of societies but there are also many that revere the elderly to no end. All in all, was a decent episode. I did laugh at the rock climbers bit and one of them getting a sprained ankle. The best line had to come from Nelson though "Aaaaaaaand Remorse."}

Second Episode Blog

As you can guess, this is the second episode of my blog that is being done for my QU 201 class. Due to the Oscars, the episode of the Simpsons on Sunday was a repeat. Originally airing 12/12/2010, It is entitled "Donnie Fatso." Jon Hamm of Mad Men guest starred on this episode as an FBI agent. Clearly this is a take on "Donnie Brasco," a fantastic movie from 1997.

The general plot of the episode followed Homer as he spends the beginning of the new year in the Springfield Penitentiary after getting caught bribing an official. An FBI investigator offers to reduce his jail time if Homer agrees to go undercover as an informant to investigate Fat Tony. (Really? Why Homer? What sense does that make for the series? It would just as much sense to send in Lenny and Carl) Of course this is where the general plot of any script will take a turn and oh look, it did. Homer begins to forge a liking and bond with Fat Tony and his family. He becomes conflicted between his obligation to the government and supposed created loyalty to his new family. (What about his actual family?) A mixtures of Plot Points happen and end with Homer accidentally causing the death of Fat Tony. Fat Tony's cousin Fit Tony (seriously could not come up with a better or different name?) seeks to settle a score with Homer but as you can guess, he winds up teaching him an important lesson and becoming the new Fat Tony.

 It is hard to really care about this episode. It really was just a 14 year later lampoon of good mobster movies. Not a home run episode in my book.

p.s. The joke about the Fox News helicopter saying Merry Christmas and no other holidays? Come on, be smarter than that Simpsons. You have an entire team of writers and the best you can do to try and do an edgy joke is that?

First Episode Blog for The Spimpsons

So this is my first blog for my QU class. It is on the 2/20/11 Episode of The Simpsons.

With a shortened opening there was no iconic blackboard scene. The couch scene was meh at best. Not a hockey fan so didn't really care for it. It was followed by an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon which hasn't even ended and has already gone on for a full minute longer than should be allowed.

First commercial break. Clearly so far most of the episode is simple set up so it really holds no bearing on the rest of the episode. Not many laughs though I did laugh at the Polanski joke. Obviously could have been better placed last year when he was in the news more but it takes quite a while to animate an episode so I suppose it makes sense.


Second Commercial break. *sigh* I do not know if it is my age or simply just the times, there were no laughs during that segment. Not one. It was a continuation of the story. Bart makes a movie that fails horribly. Woo. Let's hope this gets better.


[interjection: What the hell was the point of the Anthony Hopkins joke?]

Third Commercial break. Slightly better job for this segment. Ricky Gervais and Russel Brand gave their voices to this one. Nothing particularity funny. Also, what was that Jurassic Park theme doing in there? I'm sorry, the story and show is just stretching at this point.

End segment - *deep breath* I'm sorry, this episode was terrible. They tried to tie it all up at the end with some sort of valuable statement that nothing is done by simply yourself, but a collection of everyone. The episode is done, I'm out. Thirty minutes until hopefully Family Guy can make me laugh. It wont, but it will try.

p.s. Saw the Banksy reference. Anybody else but me annoyed by the "mystery" that surrounds this guy or collective artist?